Twin faces of Matua politics: Thakur family’s sisters-in-law in rival TMC and BJP camps
Telegraph | 4 May 2026
Politics has turned family ties into a full-blown contest of nerves. Sisters-in-law Soma Thakur and Madhuparna Thakur, belonging to the influential Thakur family of Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas, have found themselves carrying the flags of rival parties in a high-stakes fight for supremacy in the Matua stronghold.
The Telegraph takes a look at the battle that is as much a political contest as it is a fight within the family.
Family equations
What was once a shared household equation has now hardened into an ideological and political rivalry. Trinamool has fielded Madhuparna, a student of WBSU and cousin of BJP MP and Union minister Shantanu Thakur. The BJP has pitted Shantanu’s wife Soma. The contest, layered with legacy and lineage, has added a personal edge to an intense political battle with the objective to make a decisive impact within the Matua community that is split between the BJP and the Trinamool.
Divided house
The Thakur family of Thakurnagar, the spiritual nucleus of the Matua community, has been politically split for nearly a decade. Once aligned entirely with Trinamool, the family began to drift apart in 2014. That year, Matua matriarch Binapani Devi’s (Baromaa) elder son Kapil Krishna Thakur was elected an MP on a Trinamool ticket, while her younger son Manjul Krishna Thakur, earlier a Trinamool MLA since 2011 and state minister for refugee rehabilitation, crossed over to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, setting the stage for a prolonged family-political divide.
After Kapil Krishna died in 2015, his wife Mamatabala Thakur retained the seat for Trinamool in the Lok Sabha byelection, defeating Manjul Krishna’s son Subrata Thakur. But the tide turned in 2019 when Manjula Krishna’s younger son Shantanu Thakur, contesting for the BJP, defeated Mamatabala to win the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat. Since then, the contest for influence over “Thakurbari” has steadily expanded into a wider battle across the Bongaon subdivision, the largest hub of the Matua community and a decisive support base. However, political differences gradually turned family relations bitter.
Fresh face-off
The latest chapter began after Biswajit Das, elected as a BJP MLA from Bagda in 2021, switched to the Trinamool and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, vacating the Assembly seat. Trinamool nominated Mamatabala’s daughter Madhuparna for the by-election, which she won, and she has been re-nominated this time.
But Soma’s entry as the BJP candidate has morphed the electoral contest into a family face-off.
“I don’t see any family ties in the election fight. I am ready to defeat the Trinamool candidate in every way,” said Soma, striking a firm and uncompromising tone.
Her husband added: “Truth will triumph. People will vote for CAA.”
Madhuparna echoed a similar detachment, saying: “There is no special emotion left in the relationship now and in this political fight, too. There is no question of any interaction at all.”
The Trinamool candidate’s mother and MP, Mamatabala Thakur, said: “People will reject the BJP for harassment and deletion through the SIR.”
Shifting ground
Bagda’s electoral history reflects a pattern of constant churn. Once a bastion of the Forward Bloc, the constituency repeatedly elected former Assembly Speaker Apurba Lal Majumdar. Trinamool broke that dominance in 2006 with Dulal Bar, who later won again in 2016 on a Congress ticket.
The BJP’s rise in the region is closely tied to its outreach among the Matua community, particularly on the issue of citizenship. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP’s Shantanu Thakur secured a significant lead in Bagda, followed by Biswajit Das’s victory in the 2021 Assembly elections. The party again led in Bagda during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by over 20,000 votes.
Yet, the subsequent by-election told a different story, with Madhuparna winning by a margin of 33,455 votes, highlighting the constituency’s volatile political mood.
Deletion twist
This time, the contest has been complicated by the exclusion of nearly 50,000 voters, mostly Hindus, following the SIR. The development has injected uncertainty into the electoral outcome.
The BJP insiders see the deletions as a setback that could erode its support base, while Trinamool is attempting to capitalise on the anger and anxiety among affected voters. Confident of retaining the seat, Madhuparna’s camp believes the issue has tilted sentiment in its favour.
The BJP, however, has dismissed the concerns. “A large section of the deleted voters are dead or duplicates. This time, there will be no scope for Trinamool to manipulate polls or threaten voters. People know what happened in the by-election, but this time it will be a different game,” Soma said.
Rebel trouble
The BJP is facing internal turbulence. Dulal Bar, who recently joined the BJP, is contesting as an Independent after being denied a ticket, potentially cutting into the party’s vote share. Forward Bloc’s Gaur Biswas is also in the fray, hoping to leverage the split within the Thakur family and the broader political fragmentation.